Faith, freedom to grab CPAC spotlight

Issues of religious liberty likely will grab much of the spotlight at the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend outside of Washington, D.C. Dr. Ben Carson says he will highlight those themes in his speech to the event on Saturday.

Daryl Gungadoo, Adventist News Network

Summary

Issues of religious liberty likely will grab much of the spotlight at the Conservative Political Action Conference this weekend outside of Washington, D.C. Dr. Ben Carson says he will highlight those themes in his speech to the event on Saturday.

WASHINGTON — Religious liberty issues will likely take center stage at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), commencing Thursday to rally thousands of activists around top conservative causes in a midterm election year.

Along with the presidential straw polls, book signings and attempts to grab a "selfie" with expected guests such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin or New York real estate mogul Donald Trump, questions of freedom of conscience about birth control, same-sex marriage and other hot-button issues will be present, observers predict.

And to Alberto Cardenas, American Conservative Union chairman, that's just fine. The ACU, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has sponsored the CPAC event near the nation's Capitol since 1973.

"As Americans begin to see how Obamacare restricts citizens' rights and discourages a culture of life and liberty for all, we wanted to make sure to highlight at this year's CPAC the cases of Hobby Lobby and the Little Sisters of the Poor, both of whom have been told that their religious values don't matter as far as this administration is concerned," Cardenas said in a statement.

Pending U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the government's contraception mandate and last week's veto of an Arizona religious freedom bill that gay marriage advocates vehemently opposed have set the stage for this emphasis.

"A nation is not totally free unless it has the right of conscience and religious liberty," said Timothy Goeglein, vice president of External Relations for Focus on the Family. "It is right and proper that (these issues) should be a very significant part of the discussion" at a political event.

Goeglein said religious liberty questions fall under the "traditional values" wing of the "large house" of American conservatism.

HHS mandate cases

On Saturday, Goeglein is to introduce a speech by Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon whose 2013 National Prayer Breakfast remarks, in which he chided many Obama administration policies, launched him into the political spotlight. Carson, who noted he is not running for president, said that he wants his speech to sound an alarm.

"My main purpose is to wake people up to what's going on," said Carson, whose new book, "One Nation," will be released in May. "Our country, our freedoms, that we want to pass on are under attack, and we don't even know it."

Carson said he's worried about the deterioration of the traditional American family and "attacks on God and our Judeo-Christian values."

A prime example of the conflict is the juxtaposition of religious liberty and the demands of the 2009 Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." Goeglein referred to two pending Supreme Court cases — Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. vs. Sebelius and Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. vs. Sebelius — both of which center on whether the government can mandate employers to provide birth control methods that violate their conscience. He said these questions will motivate voters this fall.

"I think that, actually, this set of issues will be very significant," Goeglein said. "In the history of our country, there has never been a pair of Supreme Court cases that has affirmed the centrality of the (religious liberty) debate that's going on in our country, none more so than the two HHS mandate cases."

Longtime conservative activist Ralph Reed, founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, echoed Goeglein's sentiments, but on a different issue: proposals to restrict the political activity of "social welfare" organizations under the federal tax code as proposed recently by the Internal Revenue Service.

Popular Comments

Mr. Carson inaccurately states that the ACLU does not support religious freedom,
claiming that the organization demands that religious displays be removed,
saying "You can't put that up, because it offends me." The ACLU
has never asked
More..

7:34 a.m. March 6, 2014

Top comment

Hutterite

American Fork, UT

If you're willing to open up that religious freedom can of worms,
you've got to be prepared to let the satanists build their monument.

9:35 a.m. March 6, 2014

Top comment

The Skeptical Chymist

SALT LAKE CITY, UT

@RedShirtMIT

You ask: "what is wrong with government promoting
religion?"So many ways to answer...(1). The First amendment has been
interpreted for many years that the government is to be neutral in religious
issues. So ...
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Mark A. Kellner, a national reporter for the Deseret News, has written about issues of faith and freedom since 1983, including 11 years of editorial work for the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters in Silver more ..